In workflow automation systems, the description of a product is in a vocabulary specific to the nature of the product, whereas the description of the steps required to create the product are in a vocabulary or several vocabularies specific to the processes involved in creating the various components of the product. Translation of the Product Description into a detailed set of processing instruction is often done manually and can be time consuming. Manual translation depends heavily on individual expertise, thereby creating a scarce resource, e.g., an expert whose job it is to translate Product Descriptions into processing instruction. For low-margin, quick turn-around business such as that conducted by print shops, manual tasks requiring extensive human expertise are significant factors in the cost of creating the end product.
A JDF product description conversion system can transform JDF Product Intent (a product description) into a Process Network that can be used to manufacture the desired product. A JDF Product Intent ticket defines a product description of the final product to be produced by the production shop. The product description consists of intent parameters of product characteristics (binding, covers, finished size, etc.) and references to artwork content such as PDLs (PDF files, postscript files, etc.) and supporting data files (images, fonts, profiles, etc.) The product description conversion system uses a classification system to determine the product type of the intent ticket provided. An ontology of product type definitions is used in conjunction with an inferencing system to calculate the product type.